Electric centrifugal compressor for vehicles

ABSTRACT

An electric centrifugal compressor for a heat ventilation air conditioning system for vehicles comprises a motor portion ( 20 ) and a centrifugal compressor portion ( 10 ) driven by the motor portion ( 20 ) through a shaft ( 15 ). It comprises an electromagnetic device for levitating the shaft ( 15 ) during functional operation of the electric compressor and auxiliary landing bearings ( 8 ). The electromagnetic device may comprise in particular an axial bearingless motor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electric centrifugal compressor which is more specifically adapted to be used in a Heat Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) installation for vehicles. The vehicles may include in particular terrestrial vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) or electric vehicles (EV) as well as aircrafts or other kinds of vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional Electric compressors, such as HVAC compressors for vehicles are typically associated with an electric motor.

An example of such electric motor driven compressor is given in patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,215 B1.

Such types of electric motor driven compressors have many drawbacks linked to lubrication, refrigerants, low operating speed, friction losses and loss of compactness.

Two main categories of HVAC electric compressors are used in HEV/EV vehicles: rotary like vane compressors and oscillating like scroll type compressors.

Both types of electric compressors which are associated with an electric motor have the following drawbacks:

-   -   Lubricants are needed for different mechanical parts,     -   It is necessary to check compatibility of lubricant oil with         refrigerants (such as for example the haloalkane refrigerant         R134a or the more recently used hydrofluoroolefin refrigerant         HFO-1234yf),     -   Lubricants should be carefully chosen to protect the electric         motor windings from the risk of insulation failure,     -   An oil separator and leak detection devices are required to         avoid contamination of the electric systems in EV/HEV vehicles,     -   The conventional electric compressors have a speed which is         limited and cannot exceed 10,000 rpm,     -   Friction losses are detrimental to the operation of the electric         compressor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is desired to provide an electric compressor which can solve most of these problems.

The invention is intended more especially, although not exclusively, to automotive air conditioning applications and therefore further aims at providing an electric compressor which takes into account the high level of vibrations generated in a vehicle.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an electric compressor for a heat ventilation air conditioning system for vehicles, the electric compressor comprising a motor portion and a centrifugal compressor portion driven by the motor portion through a shaft, wherein it comprises electromagnetic means for levitating the shaft during functional operation of the electric compressor and auxiliary landing bearings.

According to a preferred embodiment the motor portion comprises an axial bearingless motor and radial electromagnetic means for levitating the shaft.

The radial electromagnetic means may comprise first and second active radial magnetic bearings.

According to another embodiment, the radial electromagnetic means comprise first and second radial bearingless motors.

The centrifugal compressor portion may comprise a single wheel, double wheels, tandem wheels or double tandem wheels.

According to a particular feature, separators are provided between the axial bearingless motor and the radial electromagnetic means for levitating the iron shaft.

The axial bearingless motor advantageously comprises a rotor portion having a plurality of pole pairs armatures and first and second stator portions each comprising a core with slots respectively for receiving windings configured to impress a motor torque and an axial bearing force, the first and second stator portions being located on each side of the rotor portion.

Separate windings may be provided in the slots of the first and second stator portions for respectively impressing a motor torque and an axial bearing force.

Alternatively common windings are provided in the slots of the first and second stator portions for impressing a motor torque and an axial bearing force.

The axial bearingless motor may comprise a rotor portion chosen among an induction rotor, a permanent magnet rotor, a hysteresis rotor and a reluctance rotor.

According to a specific embodiment the centrifugal compressor portion comprises a wheel at a first end of the shaft and control circuits associated with the axial bearingless motor and the radial electromagnetic means are located at a second end of the shaft and are connected to the axial bearingless motor and the radial electromagnetic means via a feedthrough.

The invention further relates to an electric compressor for a vehicle, wherein the motor portion comprises an electric motor and the electromagnetic means for levitating the shaft comprise an active axial magnetic bearing, and first and second active radial magnetic bearings located on each side of the electric motor.

In such a case if the centrifugal compressor portion comprises at least one wheel at a first end of the shaft, the active axial magnetic bearing may be located in the vicinity of the centrifugal compressor portion and control circuits associated with the electric motor, the active axial magnetic bearing and the first and second active radial magnetic bearings may be located at a second end of the shaft and are connected to the electric motor, the active axial magnetic bearing and the first and second active radial magnetic bearings via a feedthrough.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of an electric compressor comprising a compressor portion and a motor portion comprising an electric motor, two radial magnetic bearings and a magnetic thrust bearing and further schematically showing a control device ;

FIG. 2 is another schematic longitudinal sectional view of an electric compressor comprising a compressor portion and a motor portion comprising an electric motor, two radial magnetic bearings and a magnetic thrust bearing;

FIG. 3 is another schematic longitudinal sectional view of an electric compressor comprising a compressor portion and a motor portion comprising an electric motor, two radial magnetic bearings and a magnetic thrust bearing which is divided into two parts;

FIG. 4 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of an electric compressor comprising a compressor portion (not shown) and a motor portion comprising an axial bearingless motor and two radial magnetic bearings or two radial bearingless motors;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an axial bearingless motor (the winding being not represented);

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a radial bearingless motor (the winding being not represented);

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of an example of compressor portion comprising double wheels;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an example of compressor portion comprising tandem wheels; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an example of compressor portion comprising double tandem wheels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be described in connection with preferred embodiments which are given by way of examples.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a centrifugal electric compressor for heat ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) which may be dedicated for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) or electric vehicles (EV) or else for aircrafts or other types of vehicles. Such centrifugal electric compressor may also be applied to boost a turbocharger.

A rotor shaft 15 of a motor portion 20 is coupled to a centrifugal compressor wheel 11 of a compressor portion 10 to drive the centrifugal compressor wheel 11.

An electrical motor 30 comprises a rotor 31 which may be of any type chosen among induction rotor, permanent magnet rotor, hysteresis rotor and reluctance rotor. The electrical motor 30 further comprises a stator 32 with windings 32 a.

First and second active radial magnetic bearings 40, 50 are located on each side of the electrical motor 30 to support the shaft 15 in levitation during functional operation of the electric compressor. Each active radial magnetic bearing 40, 50 comprises a rotor 41, 51 fast with the shaft 15 and a stator 42, 52 with windings 42 a, 52 a.

An active axial magnetic bearing 60 (thrust bearing) comprises on the one hand a disc 61 which is mounted perpendicular to the axis of the shaft 15 and constitutes a rotor armature and on the other hand first and second stators 62, 63 each having at least one annular coil or winding 62 a, 63 a located in a stator 62, 63 which may have a C-shaped core, as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively each stator 62, 63 could have an E-shaped core with two coils.

The radial bearing rotors 41, 51 are equipped with ferromagnetic laminations which are held in position by the magnetic fields created by the electromagnets of the stators 42, 52.

The shaft 15 is levitated in a contactless manner due to the radial magnetic bearings. The shaft's position is monitored by sensors (not shown), e.g. of the variable inductive type, which detect any deviation from nominal position and emit signals which are used in a control system (not shown in FIG. 2) to command currents in the windings 42 a, 52 a of the radial bearings in order to bring the shaft 15 back to its nominal position. The axial bearing 60 is based on the same principle and sensors (not shown) send signals to a controller to adjust command currents in the coils 62 a, 63 a of the axial bearing 60 to adjust the axial position of the shaft 15.

Auxiliary landing bearings 8 are used for supporting the shaft 15 essentially during a starting or stopping operation of the motor portion 20, but also during brief intermittent periods in case of shock-loads due to the usually high level of vibrations present in a vehicle.

Generally speaking where a rotary shaft is suspended by means of an active magnetic suspension servo-controlled on the basis of sensors for detecting the position of the rotary shaft, auxiliary bearings, also known as emergency bearings, are provided in order to support the shaft while the machine is being stopped or in the event of a total or partial failure of the magnetic suspension, thereby preventing direct contact between the magnetic circuits of the rotors and the stators of the magnetic bearings or bearingless motors when the windings of the stator electromagnets are not properly powered, thus avoiding damage to the laminations thereof. In normal operation, auxiliary bearings leave clearance about the rotary shaft and do not themselves rotate. The clearance provided for the auxiliary bearings is generally about one half the width of the air gap of the magnetic bearings or bearingless motors.

The auxiliary landing/touch down bearings 8 may have a variety of designs and may be for example rolling bearings, needle bearings, plain bearings, bushings, etc . . .

Separators 9 may be located between the stator windings of the magnetic bearings 40, 50, 60 and of the electrical motor 30.

The casing or flanges and cooling systems with a refrigerant are conventional and are not represented in the drawings.

In FIG. 2 the axial bearing 60 comprises a disc armature 61 and two stators 62, 63 located at an end of the shaft 15, whereas the compressor wheel is located at the other end of the shaft. However, as shown in FIG. 1, the axial bearing 60 can also be located on the same side than the compressor wheel 11.

As shown in FIG. 1, control circuits 70 comprising a variable frequency drive 71 and amplifiers 72 associated with the electrical motor 30 and the radial electromagnetic bearings 40, 50, 60 are integrated in a flange and located at a second end of the iron shaft 15. The control circuits 70 are connected to the electrical motor 30 and to the radial and axial electromagnetic bearings via a feedthrough 74. A connector 73 serves to connect the control circuits 70 to a further controller located remote from the electric compressor.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment which is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 2, but the axial magnetic bearing is split into two parts 60A, 60B which are located at both ends of the shaft 15. A disc armature 61A integral with the shaft 15 is located at a first end of the shaft 15 near the compressor wheel 11 and cooperates with a first stator 62 having a first coil 62 a which could be similar to the stator 62 of FIG. 1. A disc armature 61B integral with the shaft 15 is located at a second end of the shaft 15 and cooperates with a second stator 63 having a second coil 63 a which could be similar to the stator 63 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a compressor portion 10 having a single wheel. However other designs of the compressor portion 10 may be used in combination with the different embodiments disclosed herein.

Thus as shown in FIG. 7, a compressor portion 10 may include double wheels 11, 13. As shown in FIG. 8, a compressor portion 10A, 10B may include tandem wheels 11, 12. As shown in FIG. 9, a compressor portion 10A, 10B may include double tandem wheels 11, 13, 12, 14. The configurations of compressor wheels according to FIGS. 7 to 9 are intended either to increase the pressure ratio or to increase the flow.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in connection with FIGS. 4 to 6.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment with an iron shaft 15 and a motor portion 20 which are more compact than the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 3 since the electrical motor 30 and the axial bearing 60 or 60A, 60B are replaced by a single axial bearingless motor 130. In FIG. 4, the compressor portion 10 has been omitted but may be realized as previously described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7 to 9.

The embodiment of FIG. 4 allows reducing the shaft length and hence improves the overall layout.

The axial bearingless motor 130 comprises a disc-like central armature 131 integral with the shaft 15 and first and second stators 132 and 133 with windings 132 a, 133 a.

FIG. 5 shows in perspective an example of a possible configuration of an axial bearingless motor 130. The axial bearingless motor 130 of FIG. 5 comprises a rotor portion 131 having a plurality of pole pairs armatures 138 and first and second stator portions 132, 133 each comprising a core with slots 134, 135 respectively for receiving windings (not shown in FIG. 5) configured to impress a motor torque and an axial bearing force, the first and second stator portions 132, 133 being located on each side of the rotor portion 131.

In the stator portions 132, 133 of the axial bearingless motor separated coils may be used to impress the bearing force and the motor torque.

Alternatively the needed bearing force and motor torque may be generated in each coil by combined windings. In such a case a single coil will carry jointly the required motor and bearing ampere-turns.

A plurality of pole pairs armatures 138 are shown in FIG. 5 by way of example. However the rotor 131 may carry different structural elements depending on the chosen principle (permanent magnet, induction, switched reluctance, hysteresis).

As a non limiting example, the stator 132 and the rotor 131 with permanent magnets 138 may constitute a permanent magnet motor, where the permanent magnets 138 on the rotor surface produce an axial force in a first direction (upward direction in the configuration of FIG. 5), whereas the stator 133 and rotor 131 may constitute a synchronous reluctance motor, where the winding currents of the synchronous reluctance motor produce an adjustable axial force in the opposite direction with respect to the first direction (downward direction in the configuration of FIG. 5). The axial position of the rotor can thus be controlled by the currents of the synchronous motor. However as mentioned above other combinations of motor types may be chosen as soon as the axial bearingless motor 130 achieves the two functions of impressing a motor torque and an axial bearing force.

Active radial magnetic bearings 140 and 150 similar to previously described active radial magnetic bearings 40 and 50 and comprising a rotor armature 141, 151 and a stator 142, 152 with windings 142 a, 152 a may be located on each side of the axial bearingless motor 130.

However according to another embodiment each active radial magnetic bearing 140, 150 may be replaced by a radial bearingless motor 180.

An example of radial bearingless motor 180 is represented in FIG. 6. Such radial bearingless motor 180 comprises a rotor 181 integral with the shaft 15 and a stator 182 with slots 184 for receiving coils 185. The rotor 181 carries different structural elements 183 depending on the chosen principle (permanent magnet, induction, switched reluctance, hysteresis).

Basically the stator windings 185 achieve both functions of torque windings and suspension force windings. As an example if two magnetic fields, which may be created by two winding sets with a difference in the pole pair number of one, are superposed, a torque and a radial force will be produced. It is thus possible for example to combine a 4-pole motor winding of a reluctance motor with a 2-pole bearing winding, but many other embodiments are possible.

Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,618 B1 discloses an example of bearingless switched reluctance motor.

Although preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it should be understood that any changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

In FIG. 4 reference numeral 130 designates an axial bearingless motor located between two radial electromagnetic means 140, 150 for supporting the shaft 15. If the radial electromagnetic means 140, 150 comprise first and second radial bearingless motors 180 such as disclosed for example in FIG. 6, an axial active magnetic bearing such as the thrust bearing 60 illustrated in FIG. 2 could be substituted for the axial bearingless motor 130. 

1. An electric compressor for a heat ventilation air conditioning system for vehicles, the electric compressor comprising: a motor portion, and a centrifugal compressor portion driven by the motor portion through a shaft, auxiliary landing bearings, and electromagnetic means for levitating the shaft during functional operation of the electric compressor.
 2. The electric compressor according to claim 1, wherein the motor portion further comprises an axial bearingless motor and radial electromagnetic means for levitating the shaft.
 3. The electric compressor according to claim 2, wherein the radial electromagnetic means further comprises first and second active radial magnetic bearings.
 4. The electric compressor according to claim 2, wherein the radial electromagnetic means further comprises first and second radial bearingless motors.
 5. The electric compressor according to claim 2, wherein separators are provided between the axial bearingless motor and the radial electromagnetic means for levitating the iron shaft.
 6. The electric compressor according to claim 2, wherein the axial bearingless motor further comprises a rotor portion having a plurality of pole pairs armatures and first and second stator portions each having a core with slots respectively for receiving windings configured to impress a motor torque and an axial bearing force, and wherein the first and second stator portions are located on each side of the rotor portion.
 7. The electric compressor according to claim 6, wherein separate windings are provided in the slots of the first and second stator portions for respectively impressing a motor torque and an axial bearing force.
 8. The electric compressor according to claim 6, wherein common windings are provided in the slots of the first and second stator portions for impressing a motor torque and an axial bearing force.
 9. The electric compressor according to claim 2, wherein the axial bearingless motor further comprises a rotor portion chosen among an induction rotor, a permanent magnet rotor, a hysteresis rotor and a reluctance rotor.
 10. The electric compressor according to claim 2, wherein the centrifugal compressor portion further comprises a wheel disposed at a first end of the shaft, and wherein control circuits associated with the axial bearingless motor and the radial electromagnetic means are located at a second end of the shaft and are connected to the axial bearingless motor and the radial electromagnetic means via a feedthrough.
 11. The electric compressor according to claim 9, wherein the centrifugal compressor portion further comprises tandem wheels.
 12. The electric compressor according to claim 9, wherein the centrifugal compressor portion further comprises double tandem wheels.
 13. The electric compressor according to claim 10, wherein the centrifugal compressor portion further comprises double wheels.
 14. The electric compressor according to claim 1, wherein the motor portion further comprises an electric motor and the electromagnetic means for levitating the shaft provide an active axial magnetic bearing, and first and second active radial magnetic bearings located on each side of the electric motor.
 15. The electric compressor according to claim 14, wherein the centrifugal compressor portion further comprises at least a wheel at a first end of the shaft, wherein the active axial magnetic bearing is located in the vicinity of the centrifugal compressor portion, and wherein control circuits associated with the electric motor, the active axial magnetic bearing and the first and second active radial magnetic bearings are located at a second end of the shaft and are connected to the electric motor, the active axial magnetic bearing and the first and second active radial magnetic bearings via a feedthrough. 